There is a world in which Sydney Sweeney is a young, beautiful, talented actress working hard behind the scenes and earning success through her performances on both the big and small screen. But there’s another universe — one spreading across social media — where today’s most talked‑about American star isn’t even a real person, but a vaporous, curvaceous online entity with a generous neckline, a wide smile, “great jeans,” and massive public attention reflected in paparazzi shots and gossip columns.
Somehow, Sweeney, 28, must balance her real life with how she’s portrayed in the media and on Instagram. “I have a normal life outside of that,” she says in an exclusive interview with ynet.
These two sides of her life feed into each other and often collide — as with her controversial American Eagle commercial, in which she appeared in a denim outfit heralded as a symbol of ideal human genetics. That episode, blown far out of proportion, helped cement stereotypes of her as a beautiful blonde and sex symbol. Unsurprisingly, that perception has driven her to pursue roles that challenge the media image — most notably in the drama "Christy," in which she stars as boxer Christy Martin, a trailblazer for women under the spotlight of the boxing ring whose private life was scarred by hardship.
In "Christy," directed by Australian filmmaker David Michôd (The King of the Animals), Sweeney dives into the body, bones, muscles, and heart of Martin. The film follows Martin’s life from her late‑1980s youth through her final fights before officially retiring in 2011 at age 42. Sweeney was cast to portray Martin at different stages of her life and the many upheavals she faced: a sheltered young woman living in her conservative parents’ home (Merritt Wever and Ethan Embry); a forced marriage to abusive trainer James Martin (Ben Foster); unprecedented athletic success that earned a promising contract with promoter Don King; the decline toward the end of her career; and her redemption, including coming out with her partner, fellow boxer Lisa Holgate (Katie O’Brien).
Known largely for roles as glamorous young women in the vein of Cassie Howard from "Euphoria," Sweeney was tasked with carrying this complex character through multiple phases of life, requiring enormous emotional commitment and a physical transformation to match Martin’s muscular frame.
“Every time I take on a role, I want to give it everything I have,” Sweeney tells ynet. “But here I wanted to give even more than I knew was in me. Christy is such a special, amazing woman, and a role model every girl and woman deserves to have in their life. I understood the weight of her story, so it was a very important process for me. This is a very important character, and it will probably be the most unique project I’ve been a part of.”
The physical transformation took about three and a half months and included increased calorie intake to gain weight, strength training and kickboxing to build muscle, and even a mullet‑inspired hairstyle of the era. It was a complex process that gave her a radically different appearance from the Sweeney the public knows on screen. “My body completely changed. My clothes didn’t fit me anymore,” she told Deadline ahead of the film’s U.S. release. “My chest grew, my butt grew. It was crazy.” But despite commendable dedication to fitting the role, paparazzi photos that captured her mid‑transformation were met with ridicule and resistance against her previous “pretty doll” image.
Though not a flattering experience, Sweeney says she’s developed a thick skin and understands the audience’s impatience with the challenges she embraces.
“I’ve been really lucky because I’ve gotten to play so many juicy, fun, challenging and complex characters,” she explains to ynet. “I think I’ve played some characters that became very popular in contemporary culture, especially Cassie. People dive into that and love it. They struggle to separate me from the characters I play. The more I play, the more confused they get, and they tell themselves, ‘Oh, she is all those people.’ But I say, ‘Those are characters. That’s not who I really am. It’s art. It’s what I get to do. It’s what I get to be part of.’”
5 View gallery
Sydney Sweeney says fans 'struggle to separate me from the characters I play'
(Photo: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Like Christy Martin of West Virginia or Penny Jo Poplin — the young, stuttering woman from South Dakota that Sweeney portrayed in Tony Tost’s action‑comedy "Americana" — Sweeney herself grew up on the periphery of the United States. She was raised in Spokane, Washington, near the Idaho border — a rural area associated with conservative values and Republican support that her family embodied for five generations. With that background behind her, Sweeney’s breakthrough into the liberal‑leaning American entertainment world was not easy.
In an interview marking the U.S. release of "Americana," director Tony Tost told ynet he believes Hollywood recoils from Sweeney’s meteoric rise because she didn’t grow up within Hollywood’s ecosystem. That resistance turned into genuine hostility amid the American Eagle ad controversy, which earned her a supportive tweet from former President Donald Trump but further alienated her from the industry’s inner circles.
“It hurts her in the industry, in my opinion,” Tost said. “It’s a closed members’ club with people from similar backgrounds who stick to rules about how to speak, how to dress, and how to behave in the cultural world. She came from outside, and as far as I can tell, she has no interest in playing that game. I think in the long run it will help her career.”
Sweeney acknowledges that Hollywood isn’t her natural environment and that adapting was not easy. She says her family’s home — far from the noise of Los Angeles — keeps her grounded and connected to a normal life, if only for short periods. “I didn’t grow up in Hollywood, and I was raised on traditional small‑town values, surrounded by friends and family,” she shares in the interview.
“I didn’t know anyone in the industry, and my parents knew nothing about Hollywood, so we had no connections. We had to learn everything on the fly," she says. "And it was hard — really hard. It took a long time. I started when I was about 10, and only at 19 did I begin getting significant roles that opened doors to others. It required hard work and many sacrifices. And I really appreciate my parents, my family, my friends. These worlds are very different, and the values are different, and I love going home and returning to solid ground. Being surrounded by normalcy. My parents and family bring me back to earth, and it’s amazing. I think that’s important for me.”
5 View gallery
Sydney Sweeney's rise to fame ' required hard work and many sacrifices'
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Now at the peak of her career, with an extensive network, does she still feel like an outsider? “I don’t know if ‘outsider’ is the right word,” she responds. “Did I know anyone in the industry? No. At holidays I go home and spend weekends with my childhood friends. I never really cared about the Hollywood scene or parties or those things. So I don’t know if I feel like an outsider. Is there something people born into it understand that I don’t? Probably. But I also have many great friends in the industry, and I’ve built many relationships and wonderful projects with everyone. But I also have a normal life outside of it.”